The series was originally envisioned as a series of "special event" TV movies rather than a regular weekly series. The earliest episodes reflect this, since they are two-parters made from scripts originally intended to be TV movies. When the pilot was such a hit and the series was changed to a weekly series instead its production values began to suffer. Stock footage of the expensive starship special effects was overused and episode scripts became more conventional, sometimes obvious re-workings of westerns.

Part of the reason why Galactica 1980 was such a disaster. The show was originally supposed to be based around Time Travel stories, as seen in the three-part pilot. The network on the other hand thought that science fiction should appeal primarily to kids, and so forced the producers drop the time travel aspect, have children making up over half the main cast (resulting in the Super Scouts), and give the series a primarily educational focus. The requirement for an educational focus was partially due to the decision to air the show in a time slot that basically required it. Now, if they hadn't decided it was a kids' show, things might have been different...

Had "Galactica 1980" not been cancelled, they were planning a sequel to "The Return of Starbuck", showing him having a somewhat happier fate. Additionally, both Apollo and the Ship of Lights was to have played an important role in the rest of the series.

Glen Larson, the show's creator, is a Mormon, and deliberately peppered the series with Mormon imagery. For example:

The star closest to God's throne, in Mormon theology, is named Kolob. The human homeworld in Galactica is named Kobol.

Ancient Egypt factors strongly into Mormon theology. The Viper pilots' helmets were designed to resemble King Tut's mask, and Kobol is shown with Egyptian pyramids on it.

Mormons have an eternal marriage ceremony called "Sealing". Getting married in the Galactica universe is called getting sealed.

In the history laid out in the Book of Mormon, a "lost tribe" of Israelites sailed to North America and became the American Indian tribes. Galactica is all about finding the "lost 13th tribe" of humans who colonized a remote planet named Earth.

Count Iblis is unable to take direct action against anyone who hasn't allowed him to gain influence over them - rather like the Mormon version of Satan.

The Seraphs use the line "as you are now, we once were. As we are now, you may become," which is straight out of Mormon theology.

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